My son and his partner arrived today and after three years (Damn COVID!) it was wonderful to just visit and putter and eat on and off most of the afternoon and evening.

The cat sitting I'm doing for a friend is probably actually a very good thing, because it forces me to organize the day around something than needs to be tended to. Tomorrow I'll go feed breakfast before my guests are even awake, and I think they're going to go do stuff later with friends so I can feed the second cat meal then head to the gym for an hour on the recumbent bike. They are here to go to a wedding on Saturday (and I finish cat sitting midday Saturday) then we do our family thing on Sunday (Thanksgiving dinner), and next week is wandering around the county visiting interesting shops before they fly home.

The big news here is the new heat pump - everyone is impressed with how the garden bed on that side of the house looks with the new shiny outside unit. The shortcomings of the house are minimal - it's pretty tidy and I have the dining table cleared for the holiday meal. The dogs are a great distraction from any housekeeping issues - they want attention regardless of how the house looks, and our guests are happy to oblige. The dogs are happy also.